In order to describe the economic situation and conditions I would like to cite a very worthwhile overview provided in a Conscription from 1728:

“In terms of today’s circumstances the village described above possesses 1 l/2 meadowlands (that is, it is classified as uncultivated but is of economic value) but could very easily become only one piece of land if in the future God blesses the cattle (even if the inhabitants work it to its economic potential.) The land its not parceled out and the inhabitants simply break ground at will. The fertility of the land belonging to the village is of a medium quality, the fruitfulness depends on the following: with one plowing it produces nothing, the usual three to four plowings using 1 Pressburg measure of seeds, produce three to four times the amount sown at the time of the harvest. The land produces enough hemp, flax, Turkish wheat and grains to meet their own needs. There are no pastures on the plain, but there is some in the forests, clearings and glades from which the hay is mown and assembled and counted for inclusion in the Conscription. There is no dairy farm associated with it. The forest is for heating and for the various buildings of the nobleman and there is enough to meet these needs. To a great degree the forest produces acorns, whereby in a fruitful year, it increases the value of the sandy soil so that a profit of 20 to 25 Forint can be anticipated. There are no indications of harnesses and shingles. There are no apple or plum orchards. The village is situated in a low-lying area. The land is hard, and it is difficult to cultivate and work. Downpours, thunderstorms and other storms did not do any damage in the village. It has an abandoned mill. There is no fishing spot. The wine shop brings in an income of 25 Gulden semi-annually, but this hardly covers the increasing costs to maintain it. Profits from within and outside of the community are negligible and there are few benefits from the sources not described above. (Translated from Latin by the author.)

Since the village was uninhabited for 25 years before it was re-established in 1722, we can easily see how difficult the first settlers had it: They had to work the fallow land. As had been mentioned previously in the first contracts concluded with the Domain, the number of oxen was the criteria for determining the taxes to be paid by the peasant. It was too difficult to break up and work this fallow land using horses. It is only in the later contracts when the harvest becomes the basis for determining their landlord’s income. My grandparents characterized the situation in these early years with the following maxim: “First there was death; then came need; and finally then there was bread.” In these simple words the situation and conditions in the 18th century are condensed and are true to the facts. In the Table that follows I would like to present a summary of the economic parameters of the village on the basis of the County Compilations between 1725 and 1738. (I need to mention that the accuracy of these compilations can be questioned because these documents were the basis for establishing the taxes to be paid. They were naturally, if not intentionally, manipulated in terms of the best interests of the County.) The peasants for instance either hid or did not declare some of their property. More accurate in this case are the Domain Compilations that were undertaken between 1735 and 1741, but they do not contain as much information.

(The spelling of the words and the headings of the columns in the following Table are taken from the original document.)

(Translator’s note: The headings of the chart on the bottom of page 63 are as follows reading from left to right. 1. The Year of the Compilation 2. Full Peasant Farmer 3. Cottager 4. His Own House 5. Not His Own House 6. Colts under two years 7. Has His Own Oxen 8. Not His Own Oxen 9. Milking Cows 10. Non-milking Cows 11. 3 Year Old Calves 12. 2 Year Old Calves 13. One Year Old Swine 14. Sheep and Goats 15. Beehives 16. Wine in Pressburg Measure 17. Spring Grain in Pressburg Measure 18. Spring Barley in Pressburg Measure 19. Lintels 20. Tobacco 21. Tradesmen 1-3 Class)

The most important finding in this information is perhaps the fact that the first peasant farmers had more trust in their horses than the oxen in spite of the circumstances. The traditional good relationship between men and their horses that the settlers brought with them from Germany was transplanted here in Hungary because they were more familiar with working with them and the land. (Reflecting on my childhood, I can still remember the kind of love and affection with which my grandfather spoke to his horses.) From the beginning there were more horses than oxen, for example, as the number of horses increased, the number of oxen decreased. The number of cows, swine and goats multiplied rapidly. From the very beginning tobacco was cultivated in the village (altogether one to three farmers). From the results of the grain harvest there is a noted tendency that the same grain was not planted in the same field each year. It is evident that fifteen years after the settlement of the village on average every economic unit (household) had a horse, cow, pig and head of sheep. The land was worked with horses and the rest of the livestock served the needs of the household, the cow gave milk, the swine provided meat, the sheep gave their wool from which yarns were spun.

In the following Tables based on the Compilation of the Domain for the years 1735 and 1755/1756, I would like to provide a summary of the economic situation of individual families. (The spelling of words and headings of the columns in the falling Tables are taken from the original document.)

(Translator’s Note: The Table on page 65 and 66 have the following headings for each of the columns. The overall heading for the Table is The Conscription of the Domain for the year 1735. The headings for columns reading from left to right: Name, Persons, Oxen, Steer, Horses, Vineyard.

The Table on page 67 and 68 have the following headings for each of the columns. The overall heading for the Table is The Conscription of the Domain for the years 1755/56. The headings for the columns reading from left to right: Name, Horses, Oxen, Cows, Sheep, Goats, Swine, Acreage, Meadow Hay and Vineyards.)

In the year 1735 the community had 72 horses and 16 oxen. The number of livestock rose in 1755 to 183 horses, 10 oxen, 102 cows, 124 sheep, 8 goats and 138 swine. It is obvious that almost without exception horses were used in the cultivation of the fields. The number of goats and oxen was relatively unimportant. Clothes were made from the wool of the sheep to meet their own needs, and for that reason their numbers had increased appreciably. In 1735 the community consisted of sixty-six households with around 300-400 inhabitants and by 1755 this population had risen to around 700 persons. In the period from 1735 to 1755 the number of cows and horses rose 25 times and the population 1.5 times. The village could demonstrate a true economic potential and it made it possible to take in additional settlers from Baden-Durlach, that we first discover among the cottagers and day labourers. As a result of the contracts concluded under the Urbarial Regulation of Maria Theresia optimum sized farmsteads were developed. Every fertile piece of land was parceled out and it was no longer possible to expand the landholdings associated with the village. Several important oil mills and presses were already operating at that time.

The Spiritual Life of the People at the Time of the Settlement Until the Edict of Toleration (1722-1781): The People of Izmény in the Church Records

As mentioned previously, Izmény was re-settled by German Lutherans in the middle of 1722. This date of settlement placed it after the Pester Abschrift (1722) that meant that Izmény was outside of the parameters of the law for them to have and support their own Lutheran pastor. The closest village that had the right to be an Articular locale and have a church and pastor to serve them was the village of Kismányok about ten kilometers distant from Izmény, which had been settled by German Lutherans since 1720. A source exists from December 11, 1742 written in Sárszentlörinc by George Bárány (who was the Dean of the Tolna District) in which he indicates that there was a Lutheran pastor in Izmény whose name was Stephen Walther. Since no further sources in this regard exist we must search further for this pastor named Walther who served in Izmény around 1723, even if it was only for a very short time. In the Kismányok Church Records that begin in 1728 we can read the following on the first page:

“Those who were baptized and married from after the year 1724 AD, can be found in another book that had been kept by H. Walther, that can no longer be found here at the parsonage.”

The two pastors are most certainly identical and we find the pastor from Izmény already in Kismányok in 1724. If the information of Bárány (that a pastor named Walther served in Izmény) is accurate, it is reasonable to conjecture that Mercy transferred this pastor to Kismányok, after the Count’s quarrel with the diocese of Pécs (under whose jurisdiction the Roman Catholic portion of Tolna County stood) that led to the recognition of Kismányok as an Articular locale in the Pester Abschrift. In 1723, Izmény was larger than Kismányok at the time, and it is reasonable to assume that the pastor in Izmény also served in Kismányok. In 1724 the German Lutheran village of Mucsfa was established that was also in close proximity to Kismányok, and in 1723-1724 that was also true of Tófü. All of this led to a close relationship between these various Protestant villages in the face of the regulations they all had to live with because Kismányok had been settled before 1722 and it alone achieved the right to build a church, and call and support a pastor. Even though Izmény was the largest of the four congregations at the time it became a filial (literally: son) of Kismányok. Probably Hidas and Mórágy also attached themselves as filial congregations of the church in Kismányok at that time, and later in 1727 (after the expulsion of Pastor Christoph Andreas Widder) Majos, 1734 Apáti and in 1735 Mekényes also did the same. Because there was no legal right for Izmény to exercise and practice their Lutheran faith, Izmény (along with Mucsfa) even though their populations were totally Lutheran were placed under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic parish of Apar. Because of their relationship with both Apar and Kismányok, the inhabitants of Izmény had to pay their church fees to both parishes even though they were seldom in touch with the Roman Catholic priest. Beginning in 1728 we can find numerous entries in the Kismányok Church Records dealing with families from Izmény, which demonstrates that they had their children baptized by the pastor in Kismányok and he also conducted their marriages. They had to travel to Kismányok for all of their spiritual and churchly needs as well as to worship there. In the Roman Catholic Church Records in Apar, in the years between 1726 and 1755 we find only a very few entries where their children were baptized by the priest and even fewer of them were married by him. There are also some entries dealing with Izmény from the 1720s and 1730s in the Roman Catholic Church Records in Szásvar.

The known pastors serving in Kismányok (and therefore also Izmény) follow (in the time frame when Izmény was a filial of Kismányok):

The short term ministries of the first pastors are a clear indication of the situation at that time, namely that there were too few pastors in the area and secondly they were unable to carry out their ministry due to interference and outside pressures. When Pastor Weiss arrived in Kismányok there was a small wooden church in the village. A parsonage was built in 1732-1733 with a great deal of help from the filial congregation in Izmény. Adam Freidrich Frantz did the masonry work, while Lorenz Gundermann did the carpentry and cabinet furnishings. There is more information that exists about the short ministry of Pastor Stephen Bárány in Izmény. He came to Izmény in 1742 and by 1744 we find that he is no longer there. In the Minutes of the Canonical Visitation of Bishop Tóth-Sipkovics it is recorded that the pastor Stephen Bárány was forced to leave his ministry and the community. Even during the time of his ministry in Izmény, the congregation officially remained a filial of Kismányok, and the births and marriages of the years 1742 to 1743 continued to be entered in the Kismányok Church Records. In 1742 the inhabitants of Izmény had a pastor to provide the care of souls for a year, but he had to leave.

Both under the leadership of Bishop Franz von Nesselrode and George Klimo the Roman Catholic Church was determined to convert the Lutheran filial congregations to Roman Catholicism and take away the right of the Mother Church in Kismányok to have any filials in the first place. The wooden prayer house in Izmény was locked up and bricked in. To shed some light on this situation we will let Pastor Michael Weiss speak for himself, who wrote the following in 1764 (items in brackets are comments of the author):

“After a few years, Apáti a filial congregation of Kismányok was brought under the control of the Roman Catholic clergy and a new attempt was made to do the same in terms of the church relationship with Izmény and Muscfa in that the Stola (fees) for baptism, marriage and burial were to be transferred and paid to Apar as worked out by the current priest Nagy in 1764 along with the bishop of Pécs, George Klimo and also provided a document to that effect and presented it to our noble landlord. But it did not touch the heart of our noble fatherly landlord, who did not act in the matter as requested. He did not permit the church relations to be severed, but instead permitted the three filials to continue with only minor rights to be relinquished. For this purpose the following Richters appeared before His Excellency Count Mercy with a petition, dated as below: Johann Peter Schneider from Kismányok, along with the old Richter Otto Heinrich Alrutz, and Johann Wilhelm Rück the Richter of Izmény, and Johann Adam Rippert the Richter of Mucsfa, whereby the gracious resolve of His Excellency was received verbally that His Excellency on the basis of his power guaranteed by his court granted noble right had jurisdiction over the Lutheran communities in his hands and would defend such rights and no one else had anything further to say about it or could order him to do anything. For this grace and favor, the representatives of his subjects expressed their grateful thanks. It occurred in this manner in Högyész on June 16th, the day before the Festival of the Holy Trinity this year of our Lord. My ministry at Kismányok, the Mother Church came to twenty-five years of service, I, Michael Weiss carried out this ministry during this time, only though God’s leading and blessing. It is also necessary not to forget his gracious Excellency ordered the Richter representatives above to immediately inform Stephen Nagy the present Prafect (a county official) of his will in the matter.”

“In the same year, the above mentioned pastor ran into some difficulty at the time of the Feast of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary when I wanted to make a visit to Izmény to make a call on a Rittmeister who had been reported to be ill but on my arrival he was not here and for that reason I visited the schoolhouse and visited the sick schoolmaster Laurenti, where I also ran into the priest from Apar who questioned me as to who had allowed me to come, to which I provided a short answer and also asked him who gave him the authority to question me and so on, and that this interrogation by the priest would be looked upon with disfavour by the Domain.”

(As a matter of fact, Laurenti the schoolmaster died 13.09.1764.)

In spite of the promises of von Mercy, not much changed in the filial congregations in the later years. The pastor in the mother Church in Kismányok could work totally undisturbed, but in the filials under these circumstances, the work of the teacher living there in the village was relatively important in terms of their religious life. Without them these congregations would not have survived these very difficult times. A funeral led by one of them for example became an opportunity to hold a service of worship. The teaching of the Lutheran faith was of great importance. During this time period Arndt Schriba, Johannes Zinn, George Laurenti, Johannes Wölfinger and Daniel Klement served as schoolmasters. More information on them will be provided later.

After the pastor in Kismányok could not really carry out his ministry to the filials, a so-called Lizentiat (also known as the Levite Lehrer) was established in Mucsfa in 1745 and also in Izmény in 1773. This is also the year that the baptismal register of the village of Izmény begins. The Lizent was an assistant of a pastor, who was also primarily the teacher living in the village. The first such Lizent in Izmény was Daniel Klement. He was later invited to become the pastor of Kismányok and his successor in Izmény in 1778 was David Perlitzy who later became the first pastor of the congregation. The Lizent had the authority to baptize and to marry.

Most of the baptismal entries from Izmény from 1728 to 1773 are found in the Lutheran Church Records in Kismányok. The marriages from 1728 to 1745 and 1749 to 1773 can also be found in Kismányok. The marriages from 1775 to 1783 were likely conducted by the Roman Catholic priest in Apar. For example, there are marriage entries involving inhabitants from Izmény in the Lutheran Church Records in Kistormas and the Roman Catholic Church Records in Bonyhád. The reason for that was that the couple was sent away or dismissed by the Roman Catholic priest in Apar. It is possible, that at that time, marriages were performed by the Lizent in Izmény and only the appropriate fees were actually paid to the Apar parish. This would substantiate entries from before 1783 regarding the payment of fees in the financial records of Izmény. Marriage entries during this period according to my understanding are not to be found in either Apar of Izmény. That is why we have to look back at the missing gap in the marriage records in Kismányok between 1745 and 1749. At the Synod gathering that was called by Superintendent Sipkovics-Tóth in Sárszentlörinc, Michael Baumann was commissioned as a Lizent to serve as the teacher in Mucsfa. As a result he could baptize and marry in Mucsfa. We can therefore assume he also married couples from Izmény during this period. We can deduce that since there are no marriages recorded in Kismányok in this time frame either, it is feasible that the marriage fees paid to Baumann were less than they were in Kismányok and couples went to him to get married. Records of Baumann’s marriages, however, cannot be found. In fact the right for him to marry was withdrawn in 1749 because of “irregularities” at the time of Pastor Weiss’ second ministry in Kismányok.

The same gaps also hold true in terms of the death entries that have an important negative effect on family histories. These were probably during the time when Izmény belonged to Kismányok and were carried out by the teacher (he had most of the funerals) but if he kept a book it is no longer available. For that reason the death register in the village only begins in 1783.

The basis for the major change in the village’s religious situation was the Edict of Toleration of Joseph II in 1781, in which he guaranteed a form of religious freedom in those regions that were part of his Empire, which permitted the building of a church, calling and supporting a pastor dependent upon a certain number of families in the community. In this way, the former Lizent, David Perlitzy was elected as their first pastor by the village in May of 1784. He immediately began the independent all-inclusive Church Records of Izmény.

The Apponyis: The New Landlords of the Village

After the death of the younger von Mercy (1767), his son, as mentioned before, Mercy d’Argenau, Claudius Florimund inherited the Domains. He was a foreign ambassador of Maria Theresia and as a result he could not be involved in the administration of his Domains. That was possibly the background for his sale of the Domains in 1773 to Count George Apponyi (1736-1782). The new landlord bought the Domains for 700,000 Gulden. The Apponyis originated in Slovakia, and in the middle of the 18th century they were one of the most influential of the Roman Catholic noble families. The family traced its noble origins back to the 12th century. The earliest known ancestor of this family line who made it famous was Kaspar Apponyi, whose son Nikolaus fell at the re-conquest of Offen (Buda) from the Turks in 1686.

The son Nikolaus was Lazarus Apponyi and was granted the title of Baron on February 2nd, 1718 and the title of Count on May 30th, 1739. His two wives: Countess Rebecca Viczay and Countess Anna Gvadagni bore him three sons: George, Joseph (who entered the Jesuit Order) and Ladislaus (who died as a Lieutenant).

George Apponyi was born on November 5, 1736. In his youth he fought as a captain in the French-Bavarian War, later he became a Chamberlain and in the year 1760 Regional Treasurer and in the year 1763 he was named Confidential Advisor. In 1764 he was the Governor of the County of Máramaros, and in 1777 the Governor of the County of Tolna. He married the Countess Antonia Lamberg Spitzenstein (1734-1796). He also owned the villages of Körtvélyes (the birthplace of the Lizent Daniel Klement), Zombofalva as well as Peresztény and in addition to the Högyész Domains he purchased the Eberhard Domains in Pozsony (Pressburg) County. He gradually expanded the family estates that earlier consisted only of the Nagy-Apponyi Domains (Nyitra County). Geroge Apponyi died on October 5, 1782. By that time the family had estates in the Counties of Pozsony, Nyitra, Tolna and Békés. The descendants of George Apponyi prided themselves as patrons of the arts and culture. George Apponyi’s only son, Anton George Apponyi (04.12.1751-17.05.1817) was a highly educated aristocrat of his times. He was educated at the Theresianum in Vienna. In 1774 he was the Government Counsellor in Galicia, 1778 in Fiume. Between 1779 and 1784 he was adviser to the Viceroy, from 1780 he was the Governor of Tolna County. He laid the foundation for the famous Apponyi Library in Vienna in 1774. Joseph II could not talk him into the position of directing the Royal Commissary. After his death his estates were divided among his three sons. George Apponyi the oldest son (1780-1849) got the abbey of Apáti, the Högyész, and the Eberhard Domains. The second son, Anton Apponyi (1782-1852) inherited the Domains of Nagy-Apponyi and Kölesd. The third son, Joseph Apponyi (1784-1863) received the Domains of Pálfa and Szentgyörgy. The Domains of Högyész were divided into the Högyész, Pálfa and Kölesd Domains as well as the abbey of Apáti.

George Apponyi (1780-1849) had two sons by his wife Countess Anna Zichy, Karl Anton (1805-1890) and George (1808-1899). The son of Karl Anton was Géza Apponyi (1853-1927) and he ran the Högyész Domains and also died in Högyész. George’s son was Albert Apponyi (1846-1933) and was the most well known of the family. He was the leader of the Hungarian delegation at the peace talks following World War One meeting in Versailles-Little Trianon and made a famous speech to the participating delegates (but without any consequences) in which he spoke against the dismemberment of Hungary. Before that he was Minister of Education and Religion twice (1906-1910 and 1917-1918).

Anton Apponyi (born in Appony 07.09.1782, died in Appony 17.10.1852) was an important diplomat. He began his career as Austrian ambassador in Toscana in 1815, then he became ambassador to Rome, between 1826 and 1848 he was ambassador in Paris. He and his wife Countess Theresia Nogorolla had two sons, Rudolph (1812-1876) and Julius (1816-1857).

Rudolph had one son, Alexander Apponyi (1844-1925). He was the ambassador of the Monarchy in Paris and London. After the death of his father he retired and lived in his castle in Lengyel until his death. Here he involved himself in collecting books, archeology and history. Julius had two sons, Louis Apponyi (1849-1909) and Anton Apponyi (1852-1920).

Migrations From the Village at the End of the 18th Century

Following the major increase in the village population through the arrival and settlement of the large group from Baden-Durlach in the 1760s, population growth was then only by natural increase. Fifty-five to sixty years after the settlement of the village it came to the point that a portion of the remaining parcels of land were too small and reached such a critical point that it was not economically worthwhile to work such land. This situation was the real grounds for the migration from the village at the end of the 18th century and nor was Izmény alone in this.

The situation in the other existing German Lutheran villages in the Tolna that were established in the 1720s and 1730s was totally similar. This large scale migration headed into the northern Baranya in the Hungarian villages of Nagy-Ág (Neutjak), Tékes, Tarrós (Dorosch), Gerényes (Kernisch), Csikostöttös (Tidsch) and Kaposszekcsö (Seektsche) and established German Lutheran colonies there. The names of Izmény families who helped establish these German settlements were the families of Jakob Koch and George Gamer in Gerényes; in Nagy-Ág the families of Johannes Taupert and Johannes Adam and in Tarrós the families of Christoph Mangold, Michael Schweitzer and Balthasar Wohlgemuth.

In 1775 many families moved to Rackozar (Kossart, today known as Egyházaskozár). The village was at the centre of a large growth and development period. German Lutherans had already begun settling in the village in 1757 that was already inhabited by Greek Orthodox Serbs. The first settlers came from central Tolna especially Kéty and Felsönana. In 1771 Rackozar became a market town that brought about several results. In the 1770s an important additional migration from the neighbouring villages of Mucsfa, Majos, Tófü and Izmény as well as Kalaznó from central Tolna took place. Among others the following families were part of the migration. Peter Kehr, Daniel Husch, Alexander Walther, Bernhard Lehmann, Jakob Allinger, Bernhard Thomas, Konrad Grill, George Grill, Konrad Stockum, Konrad Sauerwein, Jakob Nasz moved to Rackozar from Izmény. The neighbouring village of Bikal also received new settlers from Izmény at this time: the families of Wilhelm Maissinger and Johannes Schüttler.

Another major migration took place from Izmény to Györe (Jerewe). The village of Györe was inhabited by Hungarian Roman Catholics and received its first German Lutheran inhabitants in 1792 exclusively from Izmény. The German Lutheran congregation in Györe immediately formed a filial relationship with Izmény. In 1792 among others, the families of Peter Huber, Kaspar Huber, Adam Kraft, George Heinrich Herrenbrod, Johannes Fink, Nikolaus Kosz, George Kosz, Johannes Kraft and George Adam Tauscher from Izmény moved to Györe. Up until the 20th century the contacts between Izmény and Györe remained very close, many people from Izmeny moved there later through marriage and vice versa.

The Edict of Toleration and the Results: Church Building in Izmény (1784-1785)

The Edict of Toleration issued by Emperor Joseph II (ruled from 1780-1790) on October 25, 1781 had a great significance in addressing the question of Protestantism. The Protestants were made equal with their fellow Roman Catholic citizens. The most important of the sixteen points contained in the Edict follow.

The free exercise of their religion was permitted to the Protestants and Orthodox in every locale, including those in the articular villages (in which that had been previously possible for them.)

In a locale where a minimum of one hundred families adhered to one religion and in which the economic resources were available it was permitted for them to place a pastor and schoolmaster in their ministries and could build a house of worship.

The Protestants were eligible to be both educated and hold office in Croatia and Slavonia as well, from which they had been previously excluded.

Protestants did not have to attend Roman Catholic worship or participate in their ceremonies. They would not have to swear an oath except according to their own practices.

In mixed marriages all of the children would be Roman Catholic if the father was Roman Catholic and if the father were Protestant the sons would be raised in the Protestant faith.

The Protestant clergy were free to visit the sick and Roman Catholic priests could only visit sick Protestants or those on their deathbed, if the Protestant desired or requested it.

The theological examination of Protestant clergy and Canonical Visitations by the Roman Catholic bishops to their parishes were outlawed.

The Edict was of great importance throughout Swabian Turkey where many strong Lutheran congregations existed that had faced great difficulties before 1781.

By mentioning several of the Lutheran Churches that were built in Swabian Turkey after 1781, I would like to demonstrate the great importance of the Edict: Majos (1784), Izmény (1785), Mucsfa (1785), Ráckozár (1786), Mekényes (1786), Varsád (1786), Döröcske (1786), Apáti (1789), Hidas (1794), Bonyhád (1795), Hidegkút (1794). Even the former Mother Churches that had not been allowed to erect new churches now built their new churches. Our older generation in Izmény reported that the people of Izmény had helped the Mucsfa congregation, in that, some families from Izmény moved there and remained a short time so that the smaller village could claim one hundred families so that they could get permission to build a church and call a pastor. On the basis of the church financial records it can be established that a church was consecrated in September of 1782. There were wooden poles erected to hold some bells in front of the church. We are probably dealing with the renovation of the old prayer house that had been locked up since 1764. The work had been done by the mason Kaspar Kautzmann and the local blacksmith who were paid a sum listed in the financial records.

This was the first reaction of the congregation to the Edict of Toleration. The old church was used for quite some time, most likely a few years in which the necessary building materials were assembled to build a new church. Outside of the church’s financial records there is no other documentation with regard to building the church. In 1781 the congregation had most of the funds loaned out to members and counted on the interest to meet the congregation’s needs. The congregation had very little cash on hand. In 1781 there were no more loans and they concentrated on getting the money back from the borrowers. In 1781 the Church Father Florian Brunn had 15 Gulden in cash. In 1782 this amount increased, when debtors paid back 111 Gulden, in 1783 this increased to 133 Gulden. From this amount he gave 100 Gulden to the village Richter Nikolaus Koller towards building the church. The other Church Father Heinrich Schultheisz lent the congregation 70 Gulden in 1782. In 1783 the new Church Father Jakob Friedrich Naasz gave 21 Gulden. In 1784 the income from Florian Brunn was 8 Gulden, by Jakob Naasz 13 Gulden more than the annual expenses. In 1784 Heinrich Rill was elected as the new Church Father. On February 1, 1785 the congregation owed him 50 Gulden. Meanwhile, some of the borrowers paid back 56 Gulden on January 1, 1785. In the year 1785 we do not have any income or expense entries (possibly the payments for the church were kept in a separate book and can no longer be found here.) Until 1785 the congregation owed Heinrich Rill 50 Gulden and Friedrich Naasz 19 Gulden. Meanwhile, the current Richter Martin Gamer took in a further 115 Gulden in paid debts. We can see that by the end of 1785 the community was in debt. We can summarize that on the basis of the financial records for the years 1784-1787 the cost of building the church can be estimated at around 450-500 Gulden. How much money that was in those days can be determined by the entries that follow below and the recorded income. This total amount was naturally only for the building materials themselves and the wages of the specialized workmen they required who did not reside in the village. The members of the congregation provided hundreds of bricks, roof tiles, time and countless hours of labour. In memory of the gracious Emperor and the offerings of the members the following words adorn the wall above the portals of the Church: “The Emperor’s grace and the People’s Industriousness Have Built this Church.”

By mid-1784 a sizeable sum had been raised (around 150-200 Gulden) so that the building of the church could begin. The cornerstone was laid on June 13, 1784 and the church was duly consecrated on October 30, 1785 by Pastor David Perlitzy. Because of the architectural restrictions in the Edict of Toleration the church had to be built without a tower, and without an entrance facing the street and without decoration or splendour. The construction of the church was undertaken accordingly and left the tower to the last, but certainly built it prior to 1790. In order to estimate the offerings that the people of Izmény needed for their church, parsonage and schoolhouse, I will use the financial records of 1781 to 1782 and also those from 1786 to 1787 in which we will still find entries concerning the building of the church. (There is no detailed accounting of the cost of the building of the church that remains.)

The following are short forms used in the information that follows. G = Gulden (Forint)
Gr.=Groschen (garas) KR=Kreuzer (Krajcár) and D.=Denar (dénár).

(Translator’s Note: The Church Income and Expenses in the year(s) 1781 and 1782 follows beginning on the bottom of page 78 and continue on page 83 which provide a detailed accounting of the general offerings and the special donations provided by individual members as well as some of the building costs.)

The Church was 15 Kalfters long (a Klafter is the expanse between an average man’s extended arms) and 7 Klafters wide and built on a hill on the house plot numbered 30. There was a balcony along the sides and at the back where the organ was located. The balconies had the support of six wooden pillars. The balustrade of the balconies was the site for various biblical paintings, but with the renovation of 1928 they were covered up. On the horns of the altar were statues of Moses and Aaron. The theme of the altar painting done by an unknown artist was “Christ on the Cross”. The organ, that can be seen to this day, was built by the famous organ builder Joseph Angster of Pécs in 1905. There were three original bells in the tower, an 80 pound bell by Anton Zechener from the year 1740, a 125 pound bell from 1764 from a bell caster in Graz and a 260 pound bell that was cast by Johannes Fischer in Pécs in 1785. Today there are three other bells in the tower. There is an inscription on the largest bell that reads as follows: “For the Lutheran congregation of Izmény and their preacher Ludwig Bergmann, I call people to come and worship and to toll their deaths in the passage of the flight of time, between flames and heat, I was cast, Andreas Scandt had me cast in Pest in 1856.”

The inscription on the middle size bell reads: “Cast in the year 1923 through offerings from the community of Izmény.”

The inscription on the small bell reads: “Peace be with you. Gospel of John, Tenth Chapter Verse nineteen, in remembrance of the erection of the church 150 years ago, cast by Seltenhofer Frigyes of Sopron 1935.”

Additional renovations took place in the year 1985 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary and in 1998. In the year 1998 the tower of the church was fully replaced because the old tower was unsafe because of damage to the tin covering and the wood had rotted. A thorough renovation was undertaken of the interior of the church (improvement of the decorations, the painting of the sanctuary, the pews, the entire altar and around it) and also the exterior (improvements to the ornamentation and the pictures on the façade and windows). Both of the renovations were made possible by the donations of former residents of Izmény and various church institutions.

A Sociological Picture of Izmény From the Year 1829

Anton Egyed (1779-1862) was the Roman Catholic abbot in Dunaföldvár in 1829 and as such he compiled a questionnaire that all of the villages in the Tolna were obligated to answer. How worthwhile the answers were in terms of their historical value does not have to be dealt with here except to say that not all of them can be found in the County Archives at Szekszárd. We receive some very important information about the village provided by the teacher at that time, Johann Busz. Because they are very important I would like to present the actual questions and answers translated from the original Hungarian into German (and now into English). The available answers provided by the village are published in book form by the Tolna County Archives in Szekszárd.

“The 22 questions posed by Anton Egyed. The answers to the questions of the highly esteemed respected priest and deacon, Lord Antal Egyed.

With regard to the village of Izmény located in the Tal District of the noble esteemed County of Tolna.

When was the village first inhabited and settled?

Not even the oldest people can remember when their ancestors first inhabited and settled here.

What nationality lives here? Is it a mixture of nationalities? Which nationality is the largest in number, which nationality is decreasing, and which is increasing?

There are only people of German nationality in this village.

In case they are German: From what region of Germany did they come from? Or did they come from another region of Hungary? From where? What kind of clothes do they wear? What is their height and skin colour? Do most of them understand Hungarian?

It is true that all of them came from Germany but the present day residents were all born here and do not know which regions in Germany their ancestors came from, on the basis of hearsay some came from Darmstadt, others from the Duchy of Baden and others from Saxony. On Sundays they sometimes wear sandals and at other times shoes that reach up to the knees made of leather, trousers made from hemp, aprons made from light blue cloth and from the same cloth a vest, and again from the same cloth skirts with old shiny buttons and hats with lower and larger brims. On workdays they wear a fur overcoat, and sometimes, usually in the winter they wear Klumpen (wooden shoes) for protection against the cold. On Sundays all married women instead of wearing a bonnet wear beautiful snow white kerchiefs. In the summer, the young married women and those young women who are single wear blue and red silk kerchiefs that are richly decorated. On workdays, whether young or old wear blue coloured wide skirts down to their knees, aprons and stockings.

Their height is average and as adults they are quite healthy. Blond hair is very common among them, but there are many with brown hair, and only a few redheads can be seen. Only a few understand Hungarian very well, but they speak German quite well and not Swabian.

How many sessions (approximately 40 acres) are there in your village? How many landowners? Cottagers? Day Labourers? Master Tradesmen?

There are 38/8 complete sessions, 91 landowners, 48 cottagers, and 7 renters. There are no day labourers. There are 15 Master Tradesmen but do not have much work and live as day labourers.

Alongside of agricultural cultivation how do they provide for their other needs? Do they perhaps engage in trade, crafts, vineyards, cattle raising, tobacco growing or hauling?

In addition to agricultural cultivation they provide for their needs through tobacco growing. Vineyards and cattle raising are negligible.

How many houses, married couples and other people live in the village? To which religion do they adhere? In case they are mixed, which has the greater number? How many people all told, which is decreasing, which is increasing?

There are 152 houses, 129 married couples, all told there are 1,063 persons of whom 1,050 are Lutheran, 5 Roman Catholics and 8 Jewish.

Who is the landlord? Is there more than one landlord? Are they liable to do free labor? Or do they rent?

The village has only one landlord, namely his majesty Lord Count George Apponyi.. The subject tenants do not hold tenure or pay rent. They provide free labour.

How many children go to school? How many of each of the Christian religion? Do they only go to school in the winter or the summer as well?

In the winter there are 158 children in school, in the summer months on certain days there are fewer. They are all Lutherans.

Is there a market? How many regional markets, when and which kinds? How many weekly markets? What is sold primarily?

There is no weekly or regional market here.

10. Have you seen old ruins like churches, fortresses, trenches, stones from the Roman period or work tools out in your fields? If there is anything of the kind it should be written up and should be mentioned in the village documentation.

Within the boundaries of the fields of our village there are no old ruins, churches, fortresses, trenches, nor stones from the Roman period.

11. Does the village have a forest? Either a small or large one? Does it have a brood, or are there wild animals, does the village have a pond, in which there are fish and reeds? Does the village have wine? A lot or a little? Are there slopes or flat lands? What kind of wine grows here? Which is better? Which lasts longer?

With the exception of small woods of the noble that is forbidden for others, there is no forest in the land area of the village, and as a result there are no brooks, wild animals or rivers, ponds or reeds.

What is the land like? Hilly? Flat? Sandy or swampy? High yielding or low yielding? Does the village have plowing lands and meadows that are drained after flooding due to thunderstorms?

The land is not sandy; it is flat, and if it is fertilized it is fruitful. Very little of the land ever needs to be drained although the meadows do need to be drained after floods and thunderstorms.

What do the people usually grow, what products do well in the village or in the area? Identify moors and the landlords who own them that border on your village or the stud farm, the heads of cattle, the numbrer of sheep if there are more or less of them, their condition and their owners.

The people sow wheat, mostly a mixture, rye, barley, corn, oats, many potatoes, and usually tobacco. They do not have yoked cattle, horses or oxen. They keep only enough sheep for their wool to make stockings. There is no stud farm, cattle herds or moors.

Are there any public institutions in the village, such as factories, schools, post office, salt office, community hospital, lumber yards or sales, do roads pass through the village from where to where?

There are no public institutions here. There is however a beautiful church, a parsonage and school, but there is no factory, post office, druggist, salt office, nor a community hospital, lumber yard or sales office. No road passes through here.

What is the favourite past-time of the people, those involving the older people and those involving the youth?

A beloved past-time is dancing to German waltzes and also the Hungarian dance with the swift tempo (Csardás). Men play cards and bowl. Their weddings are joyful affairs and are well attended and they usually last two to three days. Usually they drink while at table accompanied my music and then one after another they choose to dance with the young couple and as payment they make a contribution to the musicians for the privilege of doing so. Meanwhile the children try to steal one of the bride’s shoes and the bride’s attendant has to ransom it from them. Then a man shows up who is dressed up like the cook carrying a large serving spoon to which a dishcloth is tied and asks for a Groschen for the cook and the dish washer lady claiming that the cook had burned herself and needed all kinds of medication. After the evening meal the bride has a kerchief put on and the married women, the sons and daughters of all of the guests have a turn or two dancing with her and present her with gifts: kerchiefs, embroidered cloth, skirts, aprons and pillows. At the conclusion the groom ties a white cooking apron around his wife’s waist and puts on his hat that is decorated with flowers and ribbons and dances with the bride for several turns and then runs out of the door with his bride. Whereupon the musicians play a sorrowful song that indicates that the wedding is over. But then right after that they continue to dance until morning.

Where is the village situated? Higher or in a valley? In other words, is the village long in length? How many streets are there and are the houses built against one another or do they stand separately in an orderly manner?

Izmény lies in a valley, that stretches along through two hillsides. Between the two rows of houses, with their beautiful roof tiles, the source of a small creek flows alongside of them to the end of the village. The neighbouring villages to the east are Hant and Apar, to the west is Györe, to the south Nagymányok and Váralja, and to the north Mucsfa and Szárazpuszta. The village is healthy. In addition to the two rows of houses in which the residents reside who are owners of full farmsteads, in the south at the end of the village there are two streets with small houses, which were known as the “Slovak Mountain” and the other the “Schellen Mountain”. The houses are not attached but free standing and orderly. North of the village on a small hill the church stands with its white tin tower, and next to it is the residence of the respected pastor and across from it the school and the living quarters of the notary. Further, the village is surrounded by a small forest on both sides, which is bordered with fruit trees. Walking under them, especially in the spring when the blossoms are in bloom and the nightingales sing is a wonderful experience.

What is the amount of the military tax paid by the village annually? What portion of the crops are paid to the landlord?

From the crops that grow on each side of the village fields give a ninth and a tenth and the crops from other side that is known as “Little Izmény” they get only one ninth.

How many Jews and Gypsies live in the village, the number of married couples and the total number?

Eight persons live in the Jewish household. There are no Gypsies. Military tax contributions of the inhabitants 18 and 28/29, 431 Forint and 18 ½ Kreuzer, house taxes 412 Forint and 52 ½ Kreuzer, totally 844 Forint and 6 Pengö.

Is there a doctor? Do the inhabitants usually take medication?

There is no doctor here, but they bring the doctor from Nagymányok, János Gebhardt to see to their sick. Mostly they make up medication according to family customs and practices.

Known misfortunes or fortunate circumstances that have taken place in the village should be reported.

The most important events in the history of the village are as follows: Firstly, in 1739 the Black Death raged here beginning on the 3rd day of June of the aforementioned year and ended on October 16th. Secondly, on April 11th of the year 1799 at the upper edge of the village both sides of the village were burned down (accounting for half of the village) and in putting out the fires some other fires broke out. The village is also known for the fact that for 62 years soldiers were quartered here.

What are the usual kinds of foods that are eaten? What are their favourites?

Their usual food consists of bread, smoked beef and pork. Their favourite delicacy is Schwartenmagen made from pork into a large sausage, as well as salami and sausage, dumplings with salad and ripe curds, potatoes with onions, smoked bacon with paprika and garlic. Donuts made out of white flour fried in canola oil in a covered kettle, until they are baked, various dumplings up to the size of a small canon ball.

They raise swine, various fowl, several sheep and cows. In their gardens they raise cabbages, brussel sprouts, cabbage butterfly, yellow and white beets, radishes, sweat peas and pickles. They sow lintels, beans and peas. Their bread is made out or rye flour and well baked. They also make wine and brandy to meet their own needs.

What opinions do you have? Are they meek and sweet tempered or unruly? Tranquil or belligerent? Submissive or stubborn?

The inhabitants are sweet tempered and not unruly. They avoid strife and quarrels and are respectful of the honourable County and their landlord. They are industrious and enthusiastic, in a word, they are economical hardworking and good hearted German people. Given this 24th day of the Month, the Day of St. John in the year 1829 in Izmény.

János Busz
The Attested Notary of Izmény

The Emigration in the 1830s-1840s

Following the large scale migration period at the end of the 18th century another 40-50 years passed. The population increased once more so that for some the possibility of earning a living by farming was no longer an option. This was the basis for the migration to three larger villages in the 1830s.

One of the destinations was Szil in Somogy County, later known as Somogyszil. The village was already inhabited by some German Lutherans at the beginning of the 19th century, but now an important movement of German Lutherans first began in 1833 and some families from Izmény participated in it: Adam Taupert left Izmény in 1808 and migrated to Bonyhád and from here he went on to Szil. He established a large extended family here. Heinrich Uhri and Heinrich Schultheisz migrated with their families to Szil in 1834. George Schenk and Johann Schultheisz came to the village in 1839 and both established large extended families. Heinrich Rück moved here from Izmény in the same year. The second marriage of his son took him back to Izmény and his male descendants all lived in Izmény but his daughters remained in Szil.

Peter Schiller along with his family migrated from Izmény to Döröcske in 1832 and from there he later moved to Szil in 1835. Members of the Koller, Brunn and Wolf families later came to the village through marriage. The village of Szil was a filial of Döröcske (later Somogydöröcske) in which Germans first arrived in 1758. Contacts between Szil and Izmény were still maintained in the 20th century and not just through marriage. Izmény families often visited there at the Kerb (Kirchweihfest: the anniversary of the consecration of the church) in Szil.

The second destination of many migrant families was the village of Iván (now Ivándarda) situated in southern Baranya. Today the village lies on the border between Hungary and Croatia, on the Hungarian side. The first German Lutherans arrived in Iván in the decade of 1810 and then the colony expanded rapidly through additional migration. The families of Peter Till and Johann Rüll with his father Jakob Heinrich Rüll left Izmény in 1846 for Iván and the two families expanded into a large extended family. The widow of Heinrich Kraft also came to the village through her second marriage in 1848.

The other destination of the migrants was in the neighbouring village of Magyarbóly (Hungarian Bohl) the Mother Church of Iván. The families of Philipp Ernst and Nikolaus Bier migrated to Magyarbóly in 1846 and some time later the family of Heinrich Schuchmann joined them. Andreas Meinhard who had been born in Izmény came to Magyarbóly in the 1830s from Majos where he had been living at the time. Only a few German Lutheran families came to the village around 1805, but afterwards the group increased through migration until 1835 when they became a Mother Church. They had filials in Iván, Pécs (until 1869), Adolfovo Selo (Adolfsdorf), Krivaj (until 1866) and Esseg (around 1871) in Slavonia.